European shares dip as skepticism looms on recovery

LONDON (Reuters) - European shares fell slightly on Tuesday as a flurry of corporate results failed to lift indexes and Wall Street pulled back ahead of Wednesday’s crucial data on U.S. inflation.

The German share price index, DAX board, is seen at the stock exchange in Frankfurt, Germany, February 12, 2018. REUTERS/Staff/Remote

The pan-European STOXX 600 benchmark index fell 0.6 percent but remained above the near six-month low hit earlier this month, while the S&P 500 .SPX in the United States fell slightly following two days of gains.

A strong reading on U.S. consumer prices could revive concerns over inflation and faster interest rate hikes - the same worries that sparked last week’s sell-off in global equities.

“We are yet to build consensus around this rally and it could run into trouble if conviction is lacking,” said Neil Wilson, senior market analyst at ETX Capital.

A flurry of corporate results yielded both positive and negative reactions on European trading floors.

The telecoms sector led sectoral fallers in Europe after Telenet (TNET.BR) reported 2017 results. The Belgian operator fell more than 5.5 percent, the worst performer on the STOXX.

Smelter Aurubis (NAFG.DE) fell 8 percent after its results fell short of the average forecast in a Reuters poll.

On the other hand, shares in French video game producer Ubisoft (UBIP.PA) rose 6.1 percent after a trading update which took it to the top of the STOXX 600.

Randstad (RAND.AS), the world’s second-largest staffing company and a bellwether for the economy, saw fourth-quarter core profit rise 15 percent, buoyed by a strong recovery in the European job markets. Its shares gained 2 percent.

European travel group TUI (TUIT.L) rose 1.2 percent after reporting that summer bookings for Turkey were recovering, echoing comments by rival Thomas Cook and adding to hopes that pressure on margins for tour operators may ease.

Advertising agencies Publicis (PUBP.PA) and WPP (WPP.L) both rose more than 3.5 percent.

Traders said their stocks were supported by news that Unilever (ULVR.L) had threatened to pull investment from digital platforms such as Facebook and Google that “create division” in society or fail to protect children.